


90 "You can tell me anything."

by allousive



Series: One Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You' [21]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Healer Teddy Lupin, M/M, Nervousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29140209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allousive/pseuds/allousive
Summary: oh the woes of long distance love, it gets us all. hope you're well, enjoy, and thank you for reading.
Relationships: Teddy Lupin/James Sirius Potter
Series: One Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You' [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1406428
Kudos: 21





	90 "You can tell me anything."

**Author's Note:**

> oh the woes of long distance love, it gets us all. hope you're well, enjoy, and thank you for reading.

* * *

90 “You can tell me anything.”

James had been pacing the hallway nervously for about half an hour. He wasn’t often nervous about many things. He could probably count on one hand the amount of times he remembered feeling nervous in his whole life. Age 11, sat on the stool with the sorting hat on his head willing desperately for it to say Gryffindor, age 16 holding the letter containing his O.W.L results and age 18 when he had told Teddy he was in love with him and wanted to spend the rest of his life with him.

Luckily for James, every instance he’d felt nervous in had ended up going fine. Which is what he had to keep reminding himself as he looked up at the clock on the wall, counting down the minutes until Teddy came home. James had only been out of Hogwarts for about a week before he’d moved himself into Teddy’s tiny one bedroom apartment.

He was still unemployed and guilt about not being able to pay his way was starting to eat him up inside. He’d been looking for something to do, a job that he would enjoy and that wouldn’t make him end up hating his life. But all he really wanted to do was spend time with Teddy and play quidditch. They had been his two true loves ever since he could remember. Quidditch had been the one thing he was really good at in Hogwarts and though he’d been trying for months to get scouted by a team or have someone recognise him, he hadn’t been successful, until today.

The sound of keys in the lock made him jump, and before he could react Teddy was pushing open the front door and stepping inside.

“What are you doing?” He asked immediately, confused as to why James was stood still in the middle of the hallway and not somewhere else in the flat.

“Ummm,” James felt his brain malfunction slightly, then said, “waiting for you.”

“You’re weird.” Teddy replied with a smile, taking off his shoes and hanging up his coat on the hook.

He still had on his healers robes underneath, worn from a days work and probably in need of a wash. James still hadn’t moved from where he’d been stood mid pace when Teddy opened the door.

Teddy was looking at him with a confused expression, “What’s wrong with you? Can we go and sit down or something?”

“What? Yeah, sorry, of course.” James felt a little flustered and was kicking himself already at how this scenario was panning out, not at all how he’d wanted it to.

Teddy sort of ignored his bizarre behaviour, walking past him and into the kitchen to fill himself a glass of water. James stood and watched from the hallway as he downed the drink in one, refilled it, then went over to the sofa at the other end of the room, the space they treated as the lounge. Finally, James managed to pull himself together and went out to sit with Teddy, perched on the edge of the sofa instead of sprawling all over the other man like he normally would.

“Okay,” Teddy said, putting his glass down on the floor and looking at James, “what in Godric’s name is going on? Have you been possessed?”

“No, sorry,” James muttered, then took a deep breath, “I have something to tell you.”

“Okay?” Teddy replied slowly, moving closer to James and putting his hand on the others thigh.

James turned his body so the two were directly facing each other and took another deep breath, then laughed self-consciously and said “I’m nervous.”

“Hey,” Teddy reached up and cupped James’ cheek, smiling kindly at his boyfriend, “ _you can tell me anything_.”

Leaning into Teddy’s touch, James nodded, kissed Teddy’s palm and sighed.

“So,” he started, “you know I’ve been going to those quidditch tryouts for the last week or so.”

Teddy nodded, not wanting to say anything in case he interrupted and stopped James from speaking.

James took another deep breath, his lungs feeling like they didn’t have enough oxygen in them, “Well, I got scouted.”

A wide grin spread over Teddy’s face, “Jamie! That’s fantastic!” He leaned over and kissed James on the cheek, his smile stretching his face out and making it light up.

James couldn’t stop himself from smiling just at the amount of happiness clear on Teddy’s face.

“Yeah, it is cool.” James said, not sounding as happy as Teddy thought he would.

“What’s wrong? Do you not want to play anymore?” He asked, frowning.

“No, no,” James replied quickly, “I do want to play. I love quidditch, I am really happy. It’s just….” He trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

Teddy was starting to get worried, “What is it Jamie?”

“It’s just, the team isn’t particularly local, you might not recognise them.”

“That doesn’t matter. It’s all about getting yourself out there, where you begin doesn’t matter. And not being local isn’t a problem. Where are they based? Yorkshire? Newcastle? What’s the team?”

James looked away from Teddy as he replied, “They’re called the Quiberon Quafflepunchers. They’re a French team.”

For a minute the room was silent, Teddy not responding and James not knowing what else he could add to fill the silence.

He felt Teddy’s hand reach out for his face and pull it gently so they were looking at each other again.

“That’s amazing Jamie, I’ll have to do my research and find out their colours so I can get an outfit to wear when I come and watch your games.” Teddy smiled kindly, trying to ease James’ worry.

“Are you not upset?” James asked.

With a soft laugh, Teddy responded, “Why would I be upset? This is what you’ve always wanted to do! I’m delighted for you!”

Despite Teddy’s niceness, James couldn’t stop himself from continuing to doubt things. “But they play in France, which means I’d have to spend the majority of my time in France while the season is on, does that not bother you?”

Resolving to just be completely honest, Teddy answered his question, “It does bother me, of course, I won’t be able to come home from work every night and have you cluttering up the place. But that doesn't mean I don't want you to go, and it doesn’t mean I’m never going to see you again, France isn’t that far. We can get portkeys to and from France easily, you know this.”

James shrugged, not knowing what to say. Teddy pulled him closer until James was resting his head on Teddy’s shoulder and Teddy had his arm around him, holding him close.

“What’s bothering you?” He asked James before kissing the top of his head.

“Leaving you.” James replied, but his voice was muffled by the fabric of Teddy’s robes.

“You’re not leaving me Jamie. Your home will always be here, and you’ll always have me, you’ll just be working in France. I can’t lie and say that everything will be super easy and we won’t miss each other at all, but you have to take this opportunity James, you know you do. I would never forgive myself if I didn’t make you go, and I don’t think your dad would ever forgive me either. You should be excited, not worried about an old bloke like me.” Teddy told him matter-of-factly, trying to inject a little bit of cheer back into the conversation.

“I suppose I am a bit excited.” James admitted finally, a smile eventually showing on his face.

“Good! You should be, I am so excited for you! This opportunity is fantastic.” Teddy cupped both of James’ cheeks and kissed him quickly once on the nose then once on the mouth.

Then he stood up off the sofa and walked over to the drinks cabinet where they kept their alcohol, opening it to have a look inside.

“We need something to celebrate.” Teddy said in explanation of his actions as he heard James get up from the sofa and move over to him.

Teddy straightened up and looked at James who was just standing next to him, holding his arms out silently for a hug. Laughing, Teddy wound his arms around James’ waist and pulled him close, letting James wrap his arms around his neck so the two were holding one another.

“We’ll be okay?” James asked quietly, nerves from the beginning of the evening slipping back into his voice.

“We will be okay.” Teddy confirmed.

* * *


End file.
